Hospital is ‘being closed by stealth’

Ward five, which has 14 beds for elderly mental health patients, is to move to Burnley General Hospital as early as April, it was revealed today.

Health chiefs said it had to move because it was no longer safe for staff and patients to work in a isolated hospital overnight without support for emergencies.

But the move which comes after Lancashire's mental health authority closed three other wards in two years was condemned as deplorable.

Overnight bed numbers, mostly for medical patients, have dwindled since the 1980s.

Rossendale Council Labour group leader David Hancock, who has helped set up the Rossendale Hospital Group to fight for services at the site, said: "They have been closing other wards down, which makes the argument we have against it much more difficult.

"One of our big concerns is that Rossendale Hospital is simply being closed by stealth. It is an incredibly sad day for the Valley."

Fellow group member Stuart Haines, said: "If you live in Stacksteads or Waterfoot then the bus service is a nightmare to get to Burnley.

"After 5pm there is going to be hardly anything happening at the hospital and we have to ask, what are they planning to do?

"We want a purpose-built hospital for Rossendale with in-patient facilities."

Managers at Lancashire Care Trust, which manages mental health services in the county, said the ward was always full or nearly full and took people aged 65 and over.

They said about a third of patients had been sectioned by the courts and it took an even split of Burnley and Rossendale patients.

The long-term fate of the site now lies with a review of all services by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Project leader Val Bertenshaw said doctors "saw the need for a service in Rossendale".

Services are commissioned by the Primary Care Trust. Derek Holmes, chair-man of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum which oversees the PCT, said: "It is deplorable that any changes in the NHS seem to affect older people more than anybody else.

"It raises questions about the future of Rossendale Hospital."

The Trust closed ward six for refurbishment in 2004 but have so far not re-opened.

It then closed ward one in August and said staffing problems led to the shut down of ward 11, for adult mental health patients, in December.

Chief executive of Lancashire Care Trust, Finlay Robertson, said: "We fully recognise concerns expressed by local people about the closure of services, temporary or otherwise.

"We do however need to make sure that the services we provide are safe and offer the best quality of care to patients."